“Put It on a Ball”

In our dining room sits a decorative basket that, until recently, held big chunky pine cones. They looked great during Christmas and through the winter, but displaying pine cones over summer seemed a bit out of place and a little silly. So, I had been on the look out for something else to fill the basket with, and came across some simple decorative balls at Ikea.

Meanwhile….

Recently at church, we have heard a few different teachers all emphasize the importance of recognizing the faithfulness of God in our lives, and the need to be diligent in remembering and passing on the stories to our children so that they also will grow with a rich understanding of God’s care and faithfulness.  Just as God often told the Israelites to build memorials as reminders of His faithfulness, we need to have memorials in our lives as well.  I think sometimes defining God's faithfulness can be tricky, what exactly are we talking about when we speak of His faithfulness?  I read a good explanation of God's faithfulness as "God is a being upon whom we can absolutely rely or stay ourselves".  Strong, trustworthy, good, merciful.

One memorial that we have is from our wedding. Our friend and mentor who spoke at our wedding service handed out small tiger eye stones to twelve people before the ceremony, and the message he gave during the service was about remembering the Lord’s work in uniting us and the significance of marriage and the work He did, and is doing, in it. In the receiving line after the ceremony, those twelve people each handed us a stone and said, “Remember what God has done today!” Those stones are on display in our bedroom and serve as a constant reminder of the Lord’s work in uniting us in marriage.

In desire to create more of these reminders in our home and family, I decided that these new decorative balls in the dining room would be another memorial. A couple of times so far, at a mealtime, I have taken a ball out, held it in my hands, and said to the boys, “Let me tell you a story of God’s faithfulness in my life…” They have caught on and eagerly ask for more stories. Those balls will grow to each having a story attached to it, a visual reminder of God’s work.

Switching gears again…

Yesterday, when Travis was driving to work, the tie rod on his truck suddenly broke, causing his front tires to both turn inward and brought his truck to an abrupt and screeching halt on the road. Later in the day, we were talking about examples of the Lord’s mercy in when and where it happened:

1. It happened before (and not during) the vacation we are planning to take the truck on next week.

2. Travis was only one block from home.

3. He was driving at a low speed. (What would have happened if it broke when he was on a faster road?!)

The boys were listening to us and Ethan suddenly shouted, “Dad! You have to put that story on a ball!”

Yes!!
They are listening! They get it! God is good, He is faithful. His mercies are new every day.  We need to remember that and tell each other these stories.  Big stories, and little stories.  We need to look for them, recognize them, give Him thanks, and pass them on.

“Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD”  Psalm 102:18